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Oral Contraceptives

The history of oral contraceptives for women is probably older than you think. Thousands of years ago, Chinese women drank mercury to prevent pregnancies, a very bad idea with the knowledge we have today. Oral contraceptives as we know them today started in the late 1930s when scientists discovered that they could stop rabbits from ovulating by giving the rabbits female hormones. However, it was not until 1960 that the United States Food and Drug Administration approved an oral contraceptive that could actually be sold to women.

Types of Oral Contraceptives

All types of oral contraceptives affect fertility by preventing ovulation. Oral contraceptives can be divided into two major categories, combination and mini pills.

Combination pills contain a mixture of synthetic hormones, synthetic estrogen and synthetic progestin. Types of combination pills are:

Biophasic oral contraceptives change the amount of synthetic estrogen versus the amount of synthetic progestin once over the course of 21 days.
Monophasic oral contraceptives have the same amount of synthetic estrogen versus synthetic progestin for 21 days.
Triphasic oral contraceptives vary the amounts and ratios of hormones used three times over a 21-day period.

Biophasic and triphasic oral contraceptives are designed to attempt to follow a woman’s natural hormonal changes that occur during a menstrual cycle.

Mini pills do not contain any estrogen and solely consist of synthetic progestin.

Oral contraceptives are designed so that women have a 28-day menstrual cycle. Oral contraceptives come packaged with 21 days worth of pills or with 28 days worth of pills. Every pill in 21 day sets contain the hormone or hormones that are used to prevent pregnancy. A package with 28 days worth of pills includes seven days of pills without any hormones.

Benefits of Oral Contraceptives

Oral contraceptives are taken for reasons other than fertility and preventing pregnancies. Oral contraceptives are thought to help:

decrease the amount of "bad" cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol
increase bone density
increase the amount of "good" cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol
irregular periods.

In addition, oral contraceptives may be able to affect or reduce the occurrence of:

benign tumors and cysts in the breast
endometrial and ovarian cancers
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.

Oral Contraceptives and Benign Ovarian Cysts

Doctors often prescribe birth control pills to prevent benign ovarian cysts because birth control pills stop ovulation. However, some experts today are questioning the effectiveness of doing this, particularly with today’s low dose oral contraceptives.

Side Effects of Oral Contraceptives

What type of side effects might you experience when taking oral contraceptives? Side effects of oral contraceptives can include breakthrough bleeding and weight gain. Additional side effects for long-term users may include breast tenderness and depression.

The risks of taking oral contraceptives increase when a woman:

has diabetes
has hypertension
is over 35 years old
smokes.

Oral Contraceptives and You

If you want to prevent pregnancy or if you have medical conditions, including ovarian cysts, that you think may be helped by taking oral contraceptives, call your physician, make an appointment and get more information.

Resources

Grimes DA, Jones LB, Lopez LM, Schulz KF. Oral Contraceptives for Functional Ovarian Cysts. The Cochrane Collaboration. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab006134.html.

Medline Plus. Estrogen and Progestin (Oral Contraceptives). Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/
medmaster/a601050.html.

Oral Contraceptives.com. Benefits and Risks of Oral Contraceptives. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.oralcontraceptives.com/about_benefits.asp

Orthotricyclen.com. Oral Contraceptives. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.orthotricyclen.com/answer/birth_answers/
history.html.

Oral Contraceptives.com. Types of Oral Contraceptives. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.oralcontraceptives.com/about_types.asp.

Ovarian Cysts.com. Types of Ovarian Cysts. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.ovarian-cysts.com/articles/ovarian-cyst-types/index.php.

WebMD. Ovarian Cysts. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://women.webmd.com/Women-Medical-Reference/ovarian-cysts.

Womenshealth.gov. Ovarian Cysts. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.4woman.gov/faq/ovarian_cysts.htm.

Women’s Health Matters. Ovarian Cysts Health Care. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/Centres/pelvic_health/
oviarian_cysts/FAQs/index.html.

Yahoo. Birth Control Pills for Ovarian Cysts. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/hw178433.

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